signs to the long term parking. It took him a few tries to get the car properly centered between the lines, but once done, he woke his sister.
"Time to go Jenny."
"Where are we?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"We are at the airport in Georgia." He answered.
"Are we going to fly somewhere?" she asked, becoming more alert.
"No, but I want to leave the car here. We should be able to catch a bus. We just have to figure out where we want to go."
Taking their suitcases, they caught a shuttle to the terminal. Once there, they got on another shuttle to take them to the Greyhound terminal in town. Jenny was self conscious about her hair and several people would look and even stare at her. She tried not to notice but it was hard and Peter realized what she must be feeling. Inside the terminal, he stopped at a shop and bought her an Atlanta brave’s baseball cap. She wasn’t the only one around with a hat, so wearing it didn’t make her feel as though she stood out from others.
"Where should we go?" Jenny asked as they sat on a bench, looking at the map of bus routes.
"I want to get away from this part of the country, but I think we might get overwhelmed in a really big city. Let’s see if we can find a place that isn’t too big or too small. Someplace no one will look for us…" he answered.
They looked for several minutes but since they knew little of any other part of the country, had a tough time trying to decide.
"Close your eyes, Jenny." Peter asked.
"What for?" she answered.
"Just close your eyes and point to a spot on this map. I figure that is as good a way as any other to decide."
Jenny nodded, closed her eyes and put her finger on Kansas.
"OK with you?" she asked peter.
"Good as any other place. He replied, looking at the stops the bus would make in Kansas. They chose a town that seemed to be in the middle of the state and hopefully the kind of town they wanted to find.
Peter went to the counter to get them tickets. He still had little idea of the value of money, so just handed the clerk a wad of bills when he had to pay for their purchase. The clerk realized this young man was not wise in the ways of the world and considered taking a few bills extra for himself, but seeing Jenny and the bedraggled look of the pair, decided to do the right thing.
"The bus will be here in about an hour. I will call you when it is time to board." He said as Peter took the tickets from him.
Jenny sat with the cases while Peter went into the coffee shop to see what he could find for their breakfast, they had not eaten since yesterday at lunch. He emerged with several muffins and a carton of milk for each of them.
*****
They had been on the bus for 2 days now, having stopped for short rests several times in that span. The experience was new for them and they kept to themselves, although few on the bus made much effort to socialize with any of the others. They talked quietly and decided that they would have to come up with a story about themselves if anyone asked. Something not very close to their actual background to hide their actions from the other day. They decided that making a cover story that was too convoluted would only trip them up, so made things simple. They kept their first names the same, but decided to change their last name to Grey, something taken from the bus company. With the same last name, they would have to be related, but didn’t want to chance using brother and sister. Peter was having some thoughts about a more in depth background story, so suggested that they say they were married. Jenny didn’t have any objections, so the basic story was born.
*****
"OK you two, end of the line!" the driver announced as the bus came to a stop in the middle of Kansas.
Peter and his sister had been dozing most of the day, the long trip and the steady hum of the bus’s engine lulling them into sleep. The scenery had been mostly huge wheat fields with oil derricks dotting the landscape. Realizing